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Elite messages and public opinion: the case of the Ohio Supreme Court

Courser, Matthew William

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
The study of support for courts long has been a focus of research by political scientists, and we know much about the levels and correlates of support for the U.S. Supreme Court. However, only recently has scholarly research focused on the question of support for state and local courts and scholars know much less about how support operates for these courts. Research on state and local courts is further hindered by the lack of a theory of support for courts. This research focuses on the concepts of diffuse and specific support for the Ohio Supreme Court. It draws upon two existing theoretical frameworks and creates a new, hybrid framework. The framework is able to explain the importance of support for courts and articulates mechanisms by which judgments of support are formed and changed over time. New survey data is used to provide information on the levels and correlates of diffuse and specific support for courts. A unique survey-based experiment was used to assess the influence of elite messages on diffuse support for the Ohio Supreme Court. This research found that the Ohio Supreme Court enjoys generally high levels of diffuse and specific support, and that the presence of a significant political controversy did not appear to change those levels of support substantially. It identifies a number of significant demographic and attitudinal correlates of support, including political knowledge and educational attainment. The research also found that elite messages could influence support for the court; however, limitations in the research design made it impossible to test the strength and direction of this influence. This research also looked at patterns of support for the Ohio Supreme Court on three separate measures—diffuse support, specific support, and support for the court’s decision in the 2001 DeRolph v. State of Ohio case. Computer simulations were used to provide a measure of effect size for each of the predictors, and simulations revealed that in some cases a substantial change in a single predictor variable could result in a sizeable change in the probabilities of respondents expressing that pattern of support.
Lawrence Baum (Advisor)
275 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Courser, M. W. (2003). Elite messages and public opinion: the case of the Ohio Supreme Court [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1060118142

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Courser, Matthew. Elite messages and public opinion: the case of the Ohio Supreme Court. 2003. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1060118142.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Courser, Matthew. "Elite messages and public opinion: the case of the Ohio Supreme Court." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1060118142

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)